Exhibitions Releases

Two New Exhibitions at Borusan Contemporary

21 February 2018 Wed

Mika Tajima’s Works are Hosted on the Bosphorus

Two new exhibitions will open at Borusan Contemporary on March 3, 2018. The first exhibition is  Mika Tajima: Æther , which is organized in collaboration with the New Museum, New York, and curated by Margot Norton and brings together the works by the Japanese-American artist Mika Tajima to the Haunted Mansion. The other exhibition, titled  Twilight , will present a selection of works from the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection, paying an homage to the poet and painter Metin Eloğlu, who passed away in 1985.

 Mika Tajima: Æther,  brings together four distinct bodies of work that speak to the ways of how our lives are influenced by the invisible forces that surround us, saturate our environment, and ultimately regulate our bodies and behavior.

The works included in the exhibition are  Negative Entropy , a series of woven textile works that translate acoustic data into abstract compositions;  Meridian (Istanbul) , a light installation that responds in real time to the collective mood of a population expressed on live Twitter feeds;  Force Touch (Manu Dextra Sinistra, Horizontal) , a wall sculpture with embedded Jacuzzi nozzles emitting pressurized air; and  Human Synth (Istanbul) , a video installation that uses a predictive computer algorithm to interpret future human sentiments as evolving plumes of smoke.

The title of the exhibition, describes an intangible substance that, according to ancient and medieval science, was thought to fill the area of the universe above the terrestrial sphere, where it transmitted light and electromagnetic waves. While seemingly invisible, technology and data, like aether, envelop and penetrate all matter. Using digital information—a medium that is ethereal, yet quantifiable—as a material in her work, Tajima interrogates the infrastructures of power that shape our perceptions, choices, and emotions.

Artist Mika Tajima was born in 1975 in Los Angeles and now lives and works in New York. In her sculptures, paintings, videos, and installations, she interrogates the techniques and technologies developed to shape and control the human body—its physicality, productivity, and imperceptible desires. From architectural systems to ergonomic design to psychographic data, her works operate in the space between the transient and the tangible, and highlight the complex networks of power and submission that we experience in relationship to our physical bodies and virtual selves.                                   

With greetings to Metin Eloğlu: Twilight 

Another exhibition that will open at Borusan Contemporary is  Twilight .  Twilight  takes as a point of departure from Metin Eloğlu’s (1927-1985) works, presenting striking examples of media art from the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection. The exhibition is curated by Necmi Sönmez, PhD, who had previously organized collection exhibitions inspired by Leyla Erbil, Tezer Özlü, İlhan Berk, Tomris Uyar ve Oktay Rifat at Borusan Contemporary. 

One of the most extraordinary creatives, Eloğlu is an exceptional painter and an undefinable poet. He was never on good terms with rules, order, discipline, groups. Eloğlu began to make abstract paintings at a relatively early time, in 1949. He published  Düdüklü Tencere  [ Pressure Cooker ] in 1951, pushing forward the language that he took over from Orhan Veli. Eloğlu’s language, colors, lines are inspired by unexpected sources, placing him in a niche both within painting and poetry that he opened up for himself. Both in his drawings and writings is a discomfort, an ill temper emerges from an unknown place.

The inspiration for this collection exhibition is a poem titled  Loş  [ Dim ] by Eloğlu from 1983:

“Dim
Even when we push up our ears to the mouth
Pull on the tongue and the lips
Nothing would be said
Raw mosquitos were lined up one after the other
Crumbs of mud in the eyes
Grasshopper a thin bee
Frills of yellow
Wouldn’t say it even when threatened with death

Then walked and started on the path

A darkness blanketed all of us.” *

Notions of twilight, darkness, which Eloğlu deals with, refer to the new presentation format on the 3^rd and 4^th floors. These floors have been transformed into dark spaces in order to provide a better viewing experience for the videos and light sculptures, revealing the unified structure of the exhibition  Twilight , which appeals to language, the lips, ears, and eyes. Just as it is not possible to immediately understand an Eloğlu poem, the exhibition  Twilight  does not have a structure that can be grasped quickly. Thus, each floor is designed as a self-contained whole.

The exhibitions are on view until the end of Sunday, August 19, 2018.

Visiting Hours: Borusan Contemporary is open on the weekends, 10am-7pm.

• Metin Eloğlu,  Bu Yalnızlık Benim: Toplu Şiirler  [ This Loneliness is Mine: Collection of Poems ](1951-1984), p. 405. Edited by Mehmet Taner, Yapı Kredi Publishing Istanbul, 2005

Borusan Contemporary

Borusan Contemporary is a multi-platform program of exhibitions, events, educational activities, new commissions, and site-specific installations rooted in Borusan Contemporary Art Collection in Istanbul, Turkey. These activities are defined by their specific focus on media arts broadly defined, i.e. artists who work with time, light, technology, video, software, and beyond. Most of the program takes place at Perili Köşk Istanbul, and co-exists with the offices of Borusan Holding, in essence creating a unique museum in an office setting. The entire building including the galleries, office space, café, Borusan Art Store, and outdoor terraces with breathtaking views of the Bosphorus is open to the public on weekends.

Rumelihisarı Mah. Baltalimanı Hisar Cad. No: 5 Perili Köşk, Sarıyer, İstanbul.

www.borusancontemporary.com